this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
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[–] wiccan2 208 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.

-- Adam Savage

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Mythbusters embodied the scientific method, but I do wish they'd stopped to actually properly explain it at some point. "Writing it down" is definitely part of the process, but it's not the whole process. The whole process is what they actually did in most of their episodes:

  1. Make a prediction
  2. Design an experiment to test that prediction
  3. Run the experiment and observe the results
  4. Come up with a conclusion

Sometimes they played fast and loose with some of these steps to make entertaining TV. But, fundamentally, they were doing science.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Screwing around still covers parts 1-3 though. You say something stupid (hypothesis), your friend dares you to do it (experimentation planning), and you do it (experiment).

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You say something stupid (hypothesis), your friend dares you to do it

What's the hypothesis there?

"I'm going to piss on that window." doesn't involve a testable hypothesis.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

I could totally chuck an egg on that roof!

Nuh uh your arm is worse than mine!

Chucks the egg

[–] njm1314 5 points 2 days ago

I mean presumably they wrote it down when they wrote the script

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Anything can be observable, but "iterative processes" makes it sound fancy

[–] probably2high 7 points 2 days ago

[Stares shamefully at sparsely populated Obsidian vault, thinking about all bullshit I tinker with just long enough to set it up and forget how the next time I go back to it]